On Tuesday, Feb. 1, SSTI’s new TBED Community of Practice hosted its first webinar as part of a multi-year effort to build capacity among Economic Development Administration (EDA) grantees to achieve greater impacts and strengthen the overall practice of technology-based economic development (TBED). Webinar participants learned about new funding sources and how they can support regional innovation economies.

This past December, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sent out letters of encouragement, or discouragement, to applicants in the competition for up to $7 billion in federal funding to support the development of regional hydrogen hubs. Of the 79 original applicants, 33 were advised to move forward with writing a full application.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) requests input from stakeholders on place-based innovation activities leveraging research institutions, such as (but not limited to) DOE’s national laboratories and sites. Feedback collected as part of this RFI will inform DOE’s future program planning and development efforts. The RFI is an opportunity to provide input on how DOE can catalyze and sustain place-based ecosystems across the country.

New fiscal year (FY) 2021 Higher Education Research & Development (HERD) survey data released by the National Science Foundation (NSF) reveals a $3.4 billion (4%) increase in research and development (R&D) spending by institutions of higher education ($86.5 to $89.9 billion), driven almost entirely by a decades high federal government R&D funding increase of $3 billion.

The National Association of State Budget Officers’ (NASBO) Fall 2022 Fiscal Survey of States, released last month, reflects a more positive fiscal environment than last year and found that F

In larger VC firms with more assets under management (AUM), women at all levels received pay in line with what men received, with the median total cash for female general partners above that of the men. However, women at smaller AUM firms received significantly less total cash compensation than men, particularly at the managing general partner level, according to a survey on professional compensation in venture capital firms conducted by First Republic Bank recently and J. Thelander Consulting, Inc.  

SSTI is excited to announce staffing changes that are helping us build on our mission to strengthen initiatives to create a better future through science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship. Over the past few months, SSTI has added five new staff members — Casey Nemecek, Jerry Coughter, Jonathan Dillon, Lisa Clayton and Sobia Saied — strengthened our student interns/assistants program, and promoted Mark Skinner to executive vice president and Jason Rittenberg to vice president.

Recent SSTI staff additions:

A recent State of Skills report by the Burning Glass Institute, the Business-Higher Education Forum, and Wiley identifies four emerging technical skill sets as the fastest growing in the country: artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML), cloud computing, product management, and social media. The authors use these four skill sets to illustrate how businesses, education providers, and learners can best prepare for a changing and increasingly technology-driven labor market. 

After a busy election season that saw gubernatorial elections in 36 states, newly elected and re-elected governors delivered their annual State of the State addresses, kicking off new programs and reviewing the conditions of their states. SSTI reviews the speeches every year and covers news of new developments and initiatives the governors have highlighted as they relate to the innovation economy. New programs are laid out here in the governors own words as excerpts from their State of the State or budget addresses.

The Advanced Research Projects for Health (ARPA-H) released plans to establish hub sites in three locations across the United States and announced their strategy for site selection.

The press release for the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) opens in what has become a tradition for environmental reporting: a dire statistic intended to inspire a desire for action.

Expanding U.S. innovation capacity sits at the heart of SSTI’s mission, and it was that driving force that guided our response to the Economic Development Administration’s request for information to inform the planning and design of the regional Technology and Innovation Hub (Tech Hubs) program last week. With $10 billion authorized for the program, and $500 million appropriated, the opportunity for growth in the nation demands a thoughtful and actionable plan.

The idea of changing the 40 hour workweek standard has been floated for decades, and more frequently discussed in recent years as companies confront pandemic-related stress, burnout and the “Great Resignation.” But, even as some smaller U.S. companies (mostly in tech) have moved toward offering a shorter workweek, the idea has not become mainstream, despite some states’ best efforts.

The SSTI Innovation Advocacy Council continues to work toward additional appropriations for Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs, Build to Scale, and the Federal and State Technology (FAST) Partnership. This week, the Council facilitated meetings with SSTI members and congressional offices to discuss funding priorities. SSTI also released a letter signed by 70 national and regional entities that support fully-funding the Tech Hubs program.

A new report compiled by The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) outlines a whole-of-government approach to biotechnology and making it a national priority.

The U.S. Department of Treasury and the International Trade Administration within the U.S. Department of Commerce have issued reports considering a program to address national security concerns “arising from outbound investments from the United States into sensitive technologies that could enhance the technological capabilities of countries of concern in ways that threaten U.S.

While the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 was passed more than five years ago, many businesses seem to be just discovering the effects of one of its sections this tax season. The law stipulated that, for tax years beginning in 2022, companies could no longer choose to expense their entire “research and experimentation” costs in one year and must instead amortize those cost over five years (with a half year look-back).

As states and local economies tackle an ongoing workforce shortage and a tight labor market, some state legislatures are looking to relax or reform their child labor laws. These proposed changes come as U.S.

This week the Economic Development Administration (EDA) announced it had completed awarding $27.9 million in cooperative agreements to establish eight economic development Communities of Practice, including the Technology-Based Economic Development (TBED) Community of Practice led by SSTI to help build the capacity and disseminate effective technology-based economic development practices across the innovation industry

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published the revised Bayh-Dole Act rule, “Rights to Federally Funded Inventions and Licensing of Government Owned Inventions,” clarifying procedures and removing outdated references.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Program Office (LPO) has announced a conditional loan commitment of $2 billion to Redwood Materials for the construction and expansion of a battery materials campus in McCarran, Nevada.

The U.S. Department of Treasury has announced approval of $635.6 million in State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) funding for Texas and Washington. The addition of these two states means 48 states and three territories have had their SSBCI programs approved.

Texas

Western democracies are losing the race for scientific and research breakthroughs, and the ability to retain global talent, integral ingredients in developing technologies, according to a recent report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). In the project funded by the U.S.

The White House released the President’s Budget for FY 2024 today, and the administration is making a strong statement of support for science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Although freshman enrollment in higher education increased 4.3% in fall 2022 compared to the previous year, total enrollment declined by 0.6% and still remains below pre-pandemic levels. Total enrollment of both undergraduate and graduate levels is down about 1.11 million students (5.8%) compared to fall 2019. Freshman enrollment in community colleges, which had taken a greater hit during the pandemic, is up 6.1% over fall 2019.